Connecticut residents have gotten used to Metro-North officials saying they are sorry about breakdowns and service interruptions on the commuter railroad.

But now one of Metro-North's employees -- a conductor -- is personally apologizing to the passengers he deals with every day.

"I will never make this mistake again and I wanted you to know how embarrassed and truly sorry myself and my crew are for this unacceptable incident," conductor Michael Shaw said in a printed letter, of which he left multiple copies on the seats of the 6:52 a.m. express from New Haven on Monday.

Shaw was apologizing for an express train that was canceled Friday. In the note he addressed to "our friends and passengers," he said he was shocked and furious.

"I am as sick of apologizing to you as you are of hearing it," Shaw said.

Commuters have recently complained about overcrowded rail cars which force many to stand during trips into Grand Central Terminal in New York. In January, downed wires left nearly 200 passengers stranded for about two hours in frigid weather in Westport.

Shaw, president of the conductors' union, said in an interview that Metro-North often apologizes, but not for every problem that occurs.

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Excerpts from Michael Shaw's letter"I am as sick of apologizing as you are of hearing it.''"Like I tell my kids, it's okay to apologize for something but it's even more important not to let it happen again.''"I will never make this mistake again and I wanted you to know how embarrassed and truly sorry myself and my crew are for this unacceptable incident.''"Some of us still care.'

"I just did my own letter," he said. "I know a lot of the passengers."

A "brake release" problem in the New Haven yard led "the powers that be" to order Shaw and his crew to run the 6:46 a.m. as a local train instead of an express train, the conductor wrote.

"My error was trusting Metro North that the other crew that usually runs behind us as the local would run in our place as the express," Shaw wrote. The conductor told passengers in New Haven, West Haven, Milford and Stratford that the express was running behind his train and that they should wait for it.

When he found out later in the day that the express had been canceled, "I was shocked and furious, and I still am," he wrote in the letter that included his name and Twitter handle. "One, that I wasn't told this information and two that I made a huge mistake in telling you, MY/OUR passengers, to trust me and wait for the express train behind us."

Marjorie Anders, a spokeswoman for Metro-North, said the rail service shares Shaw's concerns, but does "not condone his methods of communicating them.

"Mr. Shaw made assumptions about train service based on his long experience, but Metro-North operations managers can and do make changes based on the conditions they encounter," Anders said in an email to The Associated Press. She said she could not immediately say whether passengers were notified about the canceled express train.

Jim Cameron, a commuter advocate, said Shaw's letter is the first time he can remember a conductor apologizing in writing for Metro-North problems. Conductors have made "unofficial apologies" on the loudspeaker, Cameron said, but he's never known of a conductor leaving written apologies on rail car seats.

"That's extraordinary," he said. "It not only speaks to the dedication of the employee but also the frustration they have with management and the embarrassment they have."

Shaw, 48, has been working at Metro-North for 30 years and said he loves his job.

"I love the people," he said, comparing his work to postal carriers who know residents on their routes.

In addition, Shaw, who lives in North Haven, said he receives reports from his daughter, who rides Metro-North daily.

"I get the complaints when I get home," he said.

Last year was among Metro-North's worst. A train derailed in Bridgeport in May, injuring scores of passengers. A track foreman was struck and killed less than two weeks later by a passenger train in West Haven. And four people died when a Metro-North train derailed in the Bronx in December.

In September, the New Haven Line was disrupted for nearly two weeks when a feeder cable failed. Con Edison had taken the other feeder cable out of service at the request of Metro-North to accommodate the railroad's work in Mount Vernon, N.Y.

"If you communicate, people will understand better," Shaw said. "It's when they sit there for 30 minutes and don't know what happened, that's upsetting."